Device for automatic and programmed insertion of needles into work in rectilinear hosiery machines

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for use on a straight independent needle knitting machine to progressively add needles from a spaced pair of inactive non-knitting series thereof to each end of an active knitting series of needles thereby to increase the number of needles in the active knitting series of needles. The knitting machine has a lengthwise extending needle bed with a plurality of equally spaced parallel needle slots extending crosswise thereof. A needle and an associated jack are individually disposed in each of a series of the slots, the jacks being individually movable from a first to a second position thereby to individually move their associated needles from inactive to active position. A portion of each of the jacks in their first position extends from the needle slots at one side of the needle bed, the jack extensions being in engagement with a spiral groove peripherally formed on a sleeve which encircles a rotatable shaft disposed in spaced parallel rotation to the needle bed. The sleeve rotates with the shaft and moves axially thereof by reason of the jack engagement therewith, the sleeve being provided with a radially extending cam to progressively engage and move successive jacks and their needles during intermittently pattern controlled turns of the shaft.

United States Patent 11 1 Pieracci et al.

451 Nov. 6, 1973 l l DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC AND PROGRAMMED INSERTION OFNEEDLES INTO WORK IN RECTILINEAR HOSIERY MACHINES [75] Inventors:Angiolo Pieracci, Staffoli, Pisa;

Alfredo Giachetti, Lastra A Signa, Firenze, both of Italy [73] Assignee:Billi S.p.A., Firenze, Italy [22] Filed: Jan. 27, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:221,197

I52] U.S. Cl 615/76 R Primary Examiner-Ronald Feldbaum AttorneyLouisNecho [57] ABSTRACT Apparatus for use on a straight independent needleknitting machine to progressively add needles from a spaced pair ofinactive non-knitting series thereof to each end of an active knittingseries of needles thereby to increase the number of needles in theactive knitting series of needles. The knitting machine has a lengthwiseextending needle bed with a plurality of equally spaced parallel needleslots extending crosswise thereof. A needle and an associated jack areindividually disposed in each of a series of the slots, the jacks beingindividually movable from a first to a second po' sition thereby toindividually move their associated needles from inactive to activeposition. A portion of each of the jacks in their first position extendsfrom the needle slots at one side of the needle bed, the jack extensionsbeing in engagement with a spiral groove peripherally formed on a sleevewhich encircles a rotatable shaft disposed in spaced parallel rotationto the needle bed. The sleeve rotates with the shaft and moves axiallythereof by reason of the jack engagement therewith, the sleeve beingprovided with a radially extending cam to progressively engage and movesuccessive jacks and their needles during intermittently patterncontrolled turns of the shaft.

5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures [51] Int. Cl D04b 7/10 [58] Field of Search66/64, 75, 67, 70, 66/73, 76

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 559,850 5/1896 Johanson66/64 528,810 11/1894 Salisbury.... 66/62 2,153,342 4/1939 Ruinnet 66/60FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 294,869 12/1928 Great Britain 66/75996,125 6/1925 Great Britain 66/60 l l f I l Patented Nov. 6, 19733,769,814

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1

' Patented Nov. 6,1973

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 6, 1973 3 Sheets-Sheet :1

DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC AND PROGRAMMED INSERTION F NEEDLES INTO WORK INRECTILINEAR IIOSIERY MACHINES The present invention relates generally tothe art of knitting and more particularly to straight independent latchneedle knitting machines wherein means is provided to progressively addneedles from inactive series thereof to each end of a series of activeneedles thereby to progressivelyincrease the number of needles in theactive series of needles.

Straight independent latch needle knitting machines are provided withlengthwise extending needle beds which have a series of crosswiseextending equally spaced parallel slots within which latch needles areindividually slidable. Cam carriages reciprocate lengthwise of theneedle beds and operate those of the active needles which are disposedin a knitting area or position in the needle slots while not operatingthose of the inactive needles which are disposed in a non-knitting areaor position in the needle slots. The needles are movable in their slotsto and from the active knitting and the inactive non-knitting positions.

It is desirable to fashion or shape fabric being made on the above typeof machines by first knitting, upon a central series of active needleswhile. needles. at each end of the active series are inactive innon-knitting position, and then progressively adding inactive needles toeach end of the series of active needles thereby to progressivelyincrease the number of' active needles knitting the fabric, thus toaccordingly shape the fabric.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide means onstraight independent latch needle knitting machines to automatically andprogressively add needles from inactive series thereof to each endof aseries of active needles thereby to increase the number of needles inthe active series of needles.

It is also an object of the present invention to add the inactiveneedles to the active series of needles by means of a pattern controlledintermittently rotatably driven shaft having at least one spirallygrooved sleeve thereon wherein the sleeve rotates with the shaft. Thegrooves in the sleeve are engaged by a series of spaced jacks or springclips operatively related to the seriesof inactive needles so that therotating sleeveis thereby caused to move axially of the shaft andwherebya projecting cam on the rotating sleeve progressively acts upon thespring clips of the series thereof to move: the clips and their relatedneedles from the inactive to the active series thereof.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view as will becomeapparent from the. following, detailed description of apreferredembodiment of the invention as shown in the accompanyingdrawings, the present invention resides in the elements of constructionand arrangement of parts of the automatically operable means. for addingneedles from inactive series thereof to eachend of an active series ofneedles as illustrated, and as pointed out in the. claims;

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan: view oftheslottedinclined needle beds of a two. bed. straight knitting machine, theneedles in the needle slotsandthe'apparatus' of the present inventionapplied thereto.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the machine and of the apparatus of the presentinvention as taken onlinellll of FIG. I.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view as taken on line III III of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of FIG. 1 showing ingreater detail how the present apparatus functions to move needles fromnon-knitting to knitting positions.

FIGS. 5 and. 6 are sectional views as taken on lines V V and VI VI ofFIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view, generally similar to FIG. 6, as taken online VII VII of FIG. 4 and showing the needle advancing cam in operativeposition, and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view as taken on line VIII VIII of FIG. 4 showinga modified manner of attaching the needle advancing cam.

Referring to the drawings, a pair of lengthwise extending inclinedneedle beds of a conventional straight independent needle knittingmachine are shown at l and at 1A of FIG. 1. The needle beds are eachprovided with a series of crosswise extending spaced parallel slotswithin which conventional latch needles 3, having butts 3A, aredisposed. The needles 3 are slidable lengthwise of their slots toinactive non-knitting welt position and to active knitting position.

Only so much of the machine as is deemed essential to explain thepresent invention has been shown, and it is understood that the machineis provided with cam carriages which reciprocate lengthwise of theneedle beds to operate those of the active needles 3 which arepositioned in the knitting zone or position wherein their butts 3A areacted upon by the cam carriages to activate the needles to take and toknit yarn. As to those inactive needles 3 disposed in the non-knittingzone or position, their butts 3A will not be acted upon by the camcarriages and consequently these needles will remain inactive at weltlevel and will not be actuated to take and to knit the yarn. Theapparatus of the present invention is adapted to progressively move atleast one inactive needle from the non-knitting to the knitting zone, ateach of the series of active needles, at desired reciprocations of thecam carriages, whereby the number of active needles knitting the yarnwill be accordingly increased and the fabric being knitted will beaccordingly shaped.

Inasmuch as similar apparatus is provided for each of the needle b'edsland 1A, it should be understood that the description of the appartusrelated to needle bed 1 is also applicable to needle bed 1A. Each needle3 has a U-shaped spring clip or jack 5 associated therewith, one end ofeach clip is disposed in a needle slot while the other end of each clipis disposed on and frictionally engages the undersideof the needle bed.The clips 5 are slidable lengthwise of the needle slots from theirposition of FIG. 6 to their position of FIG. 7. In FIG. 6, the needle 3is in its inactive withdrawn position with itsclip 5 also in withdrawnposition, and the clip, when moving in the direction of the arrow f1,engages the butt end of the needle to move the same to its activeposition wherein its butt 3A willbe in position to be operated upon bythecam carriage.

In order to move the spring slipsS, a longitudinally extending rotatableshaft 7 is provided adjacent to the clipsS, the shaft 7 beingparallclto-the needle bed 1 and suitably'joumalled in bracketsattachedto the ends of the needle bed. As showninFIG 2, each shaft 7 canbe rotated by an endless chain 9 trained over a suitable sprocket onshaft 7 and over a suitable sprocket on the drive shaft of a motor 11.The rotation of each motor is pattern controlled so as to start and stopat desired intervals and in so doing to accordingly rotate shaft 7. Thearrangement is such that, at desired intervals, shaft 7 is turned foreither a full revolution or for a half revolution.

A pair of spaced tubular sleeves 13, 13 are disposed on shaft 7, thesleeves being keyed to the shaft by a lengthwise extending key 7Adisposed in suitable keyways cut in shaft 7 and in sleeves 13. With thisarrangement the sleeves can rotate with and also move axially alongshaft 7. The near ends of the sleeves 13 are each provided with aradially projecting cam shoulder 13A. The width of cam shoulders 13A maybe such as to engage and move a single clip 5 or to engage and move aplurality of adjacent clips 5. The cam shoulders 13A on the sleeves 13are angularly spaced one hundred and eighty degrees, FIG. 3. As in FIG.8, the cam shoulders 13A may be attached to the end faces of the sleeves13 by suitable means for ready replacement thereof. The periphery ofsleeves 13 are spirally grooved in opposite directions with the pitchdistance between grooves being equal to the pitch distance between theneedles and the clips. The ends of the withdrawn clips are engaged inthe grooves of sleeves 13. Adjacent each end of and attached to needlebed 1 is a flat plate having a series of rack teeth 15A which areadjacent to, aligned with and have the same pitch distance as the seriesof clips 5.

With the parts arranged so that the cam shoulders 13A are to firstoperate upon the withdrawn spring clips of the inactive needles next tothe series of active needles, rotation of shaft 7 and sleeves 13 (underpattern control via motor 11) will cause the sleeves to move away fromeach other by reason of the engagement of the ends of the clips in thegrooves of the sleeves. As the grooves of sleeves 13 move axially alongand away from the clips 5, they will engage and move along the rackteeth 15A of the plate 15.

Assuming a full rotation of three hundred sixty degrees of shaft 7, thecam shoulder 13A in position of FIGS. 3, 4 facing away from the needlebed, will, in its rotary movement, act on withdrawn clip 5X to move itto a forward position in line with the clips 5Y. In doing so, the camshoulder 13A moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 7, to move thespring clip from its position of FIG. 6 to its position of FIG. 7. Theposition of clip 5 in FIG. 7 corresponds to position 5Y in FIG. 4. Theother cam shoulder 13A, in position of FIG. 7 facing toward the needlebed, will, after its rotary movement, return to the position of FIG. 7after having moved a clip 5 adjacent to the clip shown in FIG. 7inasmuch as the cam 13A advances one pitch distance with each rotationof shaft 7.

Assuming the shaft 7 to be rotated one hundred eighty degrees, at thefirst of such movements one cam shoulder 13A, facing away from theneedle bed, will rotate to its position of FIG. 7 thereby to engage andto advance one spring clip 5 while the other of the cam shoulders 13Awill rotate from its position facing the needle bed to a position facingaway from the needle bed without advancing any of the spring clips. Uponthe next half revolution of shaft 7, the described actions of the twocam shoulders 13A will be reversed.

Accordingly, when shaft 7 is rotated a full turn, inactive needles areadded to the series of active needles at each end thereof, whereas whenshaft 7 is alternately rotated a half turn, needles are alternatelyadded to the series of the active needles at each end thereof. The addedneedles are then within the sphere of influence of the cam carriages andare actuated along with the previously active needles.

It will be understood that an independently rotatable shaft, underpattern control, may be provided for each of the sleeves l3;for each endof the needle beds so that the addition of needles to the active seriesthereof at each end of the needle bed may be independently controlled.It will also be understood that the sleeves 13 may be returned to theirinitial positions in any desirable manner in conjunction with theplacing of the previously added needles and their spring clips in theirinactive position.

What we claim is:

1. Straight independent needle knitting machine having a lengthwiseextending needle bed provided with a plurality of equally spacedparallel needle slots extendingcrosswise thereof, a needle and anassociated jack individually disposed in and slidable lengthwise of eachofa series of said needle bed slots, said jacks being individuallymovable from a first to a second position thereby to individually movetheir associated needles from inactive to active positions, said jacksin their first said position having portions thereof extending from saidneedle slots at one side of said needle bed, means to so move said jacksand their associated needles comprising a lengthwise extending rotatableshaft disposed in spaced parallel relation to said one side of saidneedle bed, said shaft being intermittently turned under pattern controlfor limited angular movements thereof, a sleeve disposed on said shaftfor rotatable movement therewith and for movement axially thereof, saidsleeve being peripherally spirally grooved with the pitch distance ofthe grooves being equal to the pitch distance of said needle slots, saidextending portions of said jacks being aligned and engaged in saidgrooves whereby said sleeve moves axially of said shaft when the latteris turned, and said sleeve having at least one radially extending cam toengage and to move at least one of said jacks from its said first to itssaid second position during each turn of said shaft, whereby said somoved jack moves its associated needle from its inactive to its activeposition in said needle bed.

2. Knitting machine as in claim 1 wherein said needle bed is providedwith a series of rack teeth disposed in alignment with and in extensionof said extending portions of said jacks in their first said position,the pitch distance of said rack teeth being equal to the pitch distanceof said needle bed, said rack teeth engaging said grooves in said sleeveas the latter is moved axially of said shaft by said jack portions.

3. Knitting machine as in claim 1 wherein each of successive ones ofsaid jacks and of their associated needles are progressively moved bysaid radially extending cam during each of successive turns of saidshaft.

4. Knitting machine as in claim 3 wherein a pair of said sleeves aredisposed in spaced relation on said shaft, wherein said grooves in saidpair of sleeves are oppositely disposed, and wherein said pair ofsleeves are caused to move in opposite directions when said shaft isturned.

5. Knitting machine as in claim 4 wherein each of said sleeves isprovided with a radially extending cam, wherein said cams arediametrically opposed, wherein each of said cams moves a jack and itsassociated needle during a full turn of said shaft and wherein one ofsaid cams moves a jack and its associated needle during the first halfof an interrupted full turn of said shaft and the other of said camsmoves a jack and its associated needle during the second half of saidinterrupted full turn of said shaft.

1. Straight independent needle knitting machine having a lengthwiseextending needle bed provided with a plurality of equally spacedparallel needle slots extending crosswise thereof, a needle and anassociated jack individually disposed in and slidable lengthwise of eachof a series of said needle bed slots, said jacks being individuallymovable from a first to a second position thereby to individually movetheir associated needles from inactive to active positions, said jacksin their first said position having portions thereof extending from saidneedle slots at one side of said needle bed, means to so move said jacksand their associated needles comprising a lengthwise extending rotatableshaft disposed in spaced parallel relation to said one side of saidneedle bed, said shaft being intermittently turned under pattern controlfor limited angular movements thereof, a sleeve disposed on said shaftfor rotatable movement therewith and for movement axially thereof, saidsleeve being peripherally spirally grooved with the pitch distance ofthe grooves being equal to the pitch distance of said needle slots, saidextending portions of said jacks being aligned and engaged in saidgrooves whereby said sleeve moves axially of said shaft when the latteris turned, and said sleeve having at least one radially extending cam toengage and to move at least one of said jacks from its said first to itssaid second position during each turn of said shaft, whereby said somoved jack moves its associated needle from its inactive to its activeposition in said needle bed.
 2. Knitting machine as in claim 1 whereinsaid needle bed is provided with a series of rack teeth disposed inalignment with and in extension of said extending portions of said jacksin their first said position, the pitch distance of said rack teethbeing equal to the pitch distance of said needle bed, said rack teethengaging said grooves in said sleeve as the latter is moved axially ofsaid shaft by said jack portions.
 3. Knitting machine as in claim 1wherein each of successive ones of said jacks and of their associatedneedles are progressively moved by said radially extending cam duringeach of successive turns of said shaft.
 4. Knitting machine as in claim3 wherein a pair of said sleeves are disposed in spaced relation on saidshaft, wherein said grooves in said pair of sleeves are oppositelydisposed, and wherein said pair of sleeves are caused to move inopposite directions when said shaft is turned.
 5. Knitting machine as inclaim 4 wherein each of said sleeves is provided with a radiallyextending cam, wherein said cams are diametrically opposed, wherein eachof said cams moves a jack and its associated needle during a full turnof said shaft and wherein one of said cams moves a jack and itsassociated needle during the first half of an interrupted full turn ofsaid shaft and the other of said cams moves a jack and its associatedneedle during the second half of said interrupted full turn of sAidshaft.